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§1532.1. Lead, Appendix A

A. Substance: Pure lead (Pb) is a heavy metal at room temperature and pressure and is a
basic chemical element. It can combine with various other substances to form numerous lead
compounds.

B. Compounds covered by the standard: The word "lead" when used in this
standard means elemental lead, all inorganic lead compounds and a class of organic lead
compounds called lead soaps. This standard does not apply to other organic lead compounds.

C. Uses: Exposure to lead occurs in several different occupations in the construction
industry, including demolition or salvage of structures where lead or lead-containing
materials are present; removal or encapsulation of lead-containing materials, new
construction, alteration, repair, or renovation of structures that contain lead or
materials containing lead; installation of products containing lead. In addition, there
are construction related activities where exposure to lead may occur, including
transportation, disposal, storage, or containment of lead or materials containing lead on
construction sites, and maintenance operations associated with construction activities.

D. Permissible exposure: The permissible exposure limit (PEL) set by the standard is 50
micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air (50 µg/m3) averaged over an 8-hour
workday.

E. Action level: The standard establishes an action level of 30 micrograms of lead per
cubic meter of air (30 µg/m3) averaged over an 8-hour workday. The action level
triggers several ancillary provisions of the standard such as exposure monitoring, medical
surveillance, and training.

II. Health Hazard Data

A. Ways in which lead enters your body. When absorbed into your body in certain doses,
lead is a toxic substance. The object of the lead standard is to prevent absorption of
harmful quantities of lead. The standard is intended to protect you not only from the
immediate toxic effects of lead, but also from the serious toxic effects that may not
become apparent until years of exposure have passed. Lead can be absorbed into your body
by inhalation (breathing) and ingestion (eating). Lead (except for certain organic lead
compounds not covered by the standard, such as tetraethyl lead) is not absorbed through
your skin. When lead is scattered in the air as a dust, fume or mist it can be inhaled and
absorbed through your lungs and upper respiratory tract. Inhalation of airborne lead is
generally the most important source of occupational lead absorption. You can also absorb
lead through your digestive system if lead gets into your mouth and is swallowed. If you
handle food, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, or make-up which have lead on them or handle
them with hands contaminated with lead, this will contribute to ingestion. A significant
portion of the lead that you inhale or ingest gets into your blood stream. Once in your
blood stream, lead is circulated throughout your body and stored in various organs and
body tissues. Some of this lead is quickly filtered out of your body and excreted, but
some remains in the blood and other tissues. As exposure to lead continues, the amount
stored in your body will increase if you are absorbing more lead than your body is
excreting. Even though you may not be aware of any immediate symptoms of disease, this
lead stored in your tissues can be slowly causing irreversible damage, first to individual
cells, then to your organs and whole body systems.

B. Effects of overexposure to lead.

(1) Short term (acute) overexposure. Lead is a potent, systemic poison that serves no
known useful function once absorbed by your body. Taken in large enough doses, lead can
kill you in a matter of days. A condition affecting the brain called acute encephalopathy
may arise which develops quickly to seizures, coma, and death from cardiorespiratory
arrest. A short term dose of lead can lead to acute encephalopathy. Short term
occupational exposures of this magnitude are highly unusual, but not impossible. Similar
forms of encephalopathy may, however, arise from extended, chronic exposure to lower doses
of lead. There is no sharp dividing line between rapidly developing acute effects of lead,
and chronic effects which take longer to acquire. Lead adversely affects numerous body
systems, and causes forms of health impairment and disease which arise after periods of
exposure as short as days or as long as several years.

(2) Long-term (chronic) overexposure. Chronic overexposure to lead may result in severe
damage to your blood-forming, nervous, urinary and reproductive systems. Some common
symptoms of chronic overexposure include loss of appetite, metallic taste in the mouth,
anxiety, constipation, nausea, pallor, excessive tiredness, weakness, insomnia, headache,
nervous irritability, muscle and joint pain or soreness, fine tremors, numbness,
dizziness, hyperactivity and colic. In lead colic there may be severe abdominal pain.
Damage to the central nervous system in general and the brain (encephalopathy) in
particular is one of the most severe forms of lead poisoning. The most severe, often
fatal, form of encephalopathy may be preceded by vomiting, a feeling of dullness
progressing to drowsiness and stupor, poor memory, restlessness, irritability, tremor, and
convulsions. It may arise suddenly with the onset of seizures, followed by coma, and
death. There is a tendency for muscular weakness to develop at the same time. This
weakness may progress to paralysis often observed as a characteristic "wrist
drop" or "foot drop" and is a manifestation of a disease to the nervous
system called peripheral neuropathy. Chronic overexposure to lead also results in kidney
disease with few, if any, symptoms appearing until extensive and most likely permanent
kidney damage has occurred. Routine laboratory tests reveal the presence of this kidney
disease only after about two-thirds of kidney function is lost. When overt symptoms of
urinary dysfunction arise, it is often too late to correct or prevent worsening
conditions, and progression to kidney dialysis or death is possible. Chronic overexposure
to lead impairs the reproductive systems of both men and women. Overexposure to lead may
result in decreased sex drive, impotence and sterility in men. Lead can alter the
structure of sperm cells raising the risk of birth defects. There is evidence of
miscarriage and stillbirth in women whose husbands were exposed to lead or who were
exposed to lead themselves. Lead exposure also may result in decreased fertility, and
abnormal menstrual cycles in women. The course of pregnancy may be adversely affected by
exposure to lead since lead crosses the placental barrier and poses risks to developing
fetuses. Children born of parents either one of whom were exposed to excess lead levels
are more likely to have birth defects, mental retardation, behavioral disorders or die
during the first year of childhood. Overexposure to lead also disrupts the blood-forming
system resulting in decreased hemoglobin (the substance in the blood that carries oxygen
to the cells) and ultimately anemia. Anemia is characterized by weakness, pallor and
fatigability as a result of decreased oxygen carrying capacity in the blood. (3) Health
protection goals of the standard. Prevention of adverse health effects for most workers
from exposure to lead throughout a working lifetime requires that a worker's blood lead
level (BLL, also expressed as PbB) be maintained at or below forty micrograms per
deciliter of whole blood (40 µg/dl). The blood lead levels of workers (both male
and female workers) who intend to have children should be maintained below 30 µg/dl
to minimize adverse reproductive health effects to the parents and to the developing
fetus. The measurement of your blood lead level (BLL) is the most useful indicator of the
amount of lead being absorbed by your body. Blood lead levels are most often reported in
units of milligrams (mg) or micrograms (ug) of lead (1 mg=1000 mg) per 100 grams (100g),
100 milliliters (100 ml) or deciliter (dl) of blood. These three units are essentially the
same. Sometime BLLs are expressed in the form of mg% or mg%. This is a shorthand notation
for 100g, 100 ml, or dl. (Reference to BLL measurements in this standard are expressed in
the form of µg/dl.)

BLL measurements show the amount of lead circulating in your blood stream, but do not
give any information about the amount of lead stored in your various tissues. BLL
measurements merely show current absorption of lead, not the effect that lead is having on
your body or the effects that past lead exposure may have already caused. Past research
into lead-related diseases, however, has focused heavily on associations between BLLs and
various diseases. As a result, your BLL is an important indicator of the likelihood that
you will gradually acquire a lead-related health impairment or disease.

Once your blood lead level climbs about 40 µg/dl, your risk of disease
increases. There is a wide variability of individual response to lead, thus it is
difficult to say that a particular BLL in a given person will cause a particular effect.
Studies have associated fatal encephalopathy with BLLs as low as 150 µg/dl. Other
studies have shown other forms of diseases in some workers with BLLs well below 80 µg/dl.
Your BLL is a crucial indicator of the risks to your health, but one other factor is also
extremely important. This factor is the length of time you have had elevated BLLs. The
longer you have an elevated BLL, the greater the risk that large quantities of lead are
being gradually stored in your organs and tissues (body burden). The greater your overall
body burden, the greater the chances of substantial permanent damage. The best way to
prevent all forms of lead-related impairments and diseases -- both short term and long
term -- is to maintain your BLL below 40 µg/dl. The provisions of the standard are
designed with this end in mind.

Your employer has prime responsibility to assure that the provisions of the standard
are complied with both by the company and by individual workers. You, as a worker,
however, also have a responsibility to assist your employer in complying with the
standard. You can play a key role in protecting your own health by learning about the lead
hazards and their control, learning what the standard requires, following the standard
where it governs your own actions, and seeing that your employer complies with provisions
governing his or her actions.

(4) Reporting signs and symptoms of health problems. You should immediately notify your
employer if you develop signs or symptoms associated with lead poisoning or if you desire
medical advice concerning the effects of current or past exposure to lead or your ability
to have a healthy child. You should also notify your employer if you have difficulty
breathing during a respirator fit test or while wearing a respirator. In each of these
cases, your employer must make available to you appropriate medical examinations or
consultations. These must be provided at no cost to you and at a reasonable time and
place. The standard contains a procedure whereby you can obtain a second opinion by a
physician of your choice if your employer selected the initial physician.

3. New section refiled 4-28-94 with amendments; operative 5-4-94 pursuant to Labor Code
section 142.3(a)(4) (Register 94, No. 17). This section is identical to the interim final
rule adopted by the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration on 5-4-93 and is
exempt from OAL review. Pursuant to Labor Code section 142.3(a)(4)(C), this section shall
remain in effect for six months unless superseded by permanent regulations.